Scientists Making Progress on AIDS Vaccine, but Slowly

From CDC National Prevention Information Network

July 27, 2012

On Wednesday at the 19th International AIDS Conference, the director of the Duke University School of Medicine's Human Vaccine Institute reported on the discovery of a series of "Achilles heels" on the surface of HIV -- developments that have reignited the search for an AIDS vaccine.

"We know the face of the enemy now," Bart Haynes said. "We have some real clues about how to approach the problem." He detailed several key challenges that have made developing a vaccine so difficult.

Because HIV is a retrovirus, Haynes said, it does not simply infect the body: It inserts itself into a cell's genome. "An HIV vaccine must totally prevent infection," he said. "Once infection occurs, the virus inserts into the genome, and the immune system can't kill it."

Advertisement

In addition, though the body tries to defend itself, it cannot keep up with rapid pace at which HIV mutates. To be effective, an HIV vaccine would have to stimulate the production of broadly neutralizing antibodies to attack the virus regardless of its mutations.

Haynes said scientists have discovered potential weak points on HIV that appear to stay the same, even as the virus mutates. These could become the targets for vaccines.

Another issue, according to Wayne Koff, chief scientific officer of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, is HIV's ability to hide itself and confuse the immune system. This raises the risk that a vaccinated person's body would produce the proper antibodies, but that these would be unrecognized by the immune system and marked for elimination.

This article was provided by CDC National Prevention Information Network. It is a part of the publication CDC HIV/Hepatitis/STD/TB Prevention News Update.

No comments have been made.

Add Your Comment:

(Please note: Your name and comment will be public, and may even show up in Internet search results. Be careful when providing personal information! Beforeadding your comment, please read TheBody.com's Comment Policy.)

Please do not modify the following input field.

Your Name:

Your Location:

(ex: San Francisco, CA)

Your Comment:

Characters remaining:

Please note: Knowledge about HIV changes rapidly. Note the date of this summary's publication, and before treating patients or employing any therapies described in these materials, verify all information independently. If you are a patient, please consult a doctor or other medical professional before acting on any of the information presented in this summary. For a complete listing of our most recent conference coverage, click here.

TheBodyPRO.com is a service of Remedy Health Media, LLC, 750 3rd Avenue, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10017. TheBodyPRO.com and its logos are trademarks of Remedy Health Media, LLC, and its subsidiaries, which owns the copyright of TheBodyPRO.com's homepage, topic pages, page designs and HTML code. General Disclaimer: TheBodyPRO.com is designed for educational purposes only and is not engaged in rendering medical advice or professional services. The information provided through TheBodyPRO.com should not be used for diagnosing or treating a health problem or a disease. It is not a substitute for professional care. If you have or suspect you may have a health problem, consult your health care provider.